CLASH

05.20.12

NATO Protests Erupt in Chicago

Charles Rex Arbogast

Police and protesters clashed during an antiwar rally in Chicago as several thousand gathered near the meeting site of NATO dignitaries. The rally was intended to be peaceful, but protesters surged against riot police and at one point uprooted a metal barrier and tried to push it toward police. The protests drew to a close in the evening as rally organizers urged people to disperse, and police threatened to use water and other anti-riot measures against the crowd. President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met earlier in the day to discuss Afghanistan prior to the summit’s gathering of world leaders.